Expert: - 2/28/2008

Question
What is the general difference between a reactive solid and particle ball and the type of ball reactions each of them would have on certain conditions (ex. fresh oil THS)? I kind of do understand that particle balls have more traction on the oil but I wanted to be sure since I'm in the process of buying one or two solid ball (Resurgence, Black Widow Bite, Epic Quest, Epic Odyssey, Horizon Solid, Dynamic Power or Temper).

Answer
Marc,
If you imagine the particles sticking up off a ball surface like the spikes of an athletic shoe sticking down into turf, the particles gain friction by sticking down through the oil. If you bowl on a THS, there's friction right or left (depending which hand you use, you don't need spikes sticking out of a ball to get friction).

Solid reactives will hydroplane with enough oil under them. The dull
surface on some of the balls you mentioned aren't very coarse. They will transition quickly as you swing the ball out or off the end of the oil, but not much sooner, unless the buff out on the lane has very little oil (volume) at the end of the pattern.

Speed dominate players occasionally need earlier reaction on oily lanes. Some rev challenged players can benefit for a short time with a strong cover and core combination on the right condition. Particle balls in general are a stop gap option. Most can't be used very long as the earlier rolling tendency of the cover burns energy to quickly and the balls don't hit well after the lanes start to lose oil (and transition).

A recent particle option, the Brunswick Mammoth has a more basic core, allowing more energy to be retained by the ball in its path down lane.

We're not talking about particle pearls here. Just the dull stuff. The fact that you don't have to many (dull) particle choices anymore reflects the fact that not many conditions require them, even for the speed dominant players. What is a Dynamic? never heard of them?

Thanks for the question. Good luck with your new ball(s).